Another Erie GM Dealer Hit for Fraud, Former NIADA Prez Indicted

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

We’re not singling out the good people of Erie, Pennsylvania, but it’s possible some General Motors dealers in that city may feel a pressing need for extra cash. On Tuesday, a grand jury indicted the owner of Lakeside Chevrolet-Buick and a former finance manager on charges of fraud.

You’ll recall a few years ago when another GM dealer in the city saw its owner and general manager indicted in a phony loan scheme. In the most recent case, the owner formerly held the title of president of the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association, and the indictments flowed following accusations of phoney sales reports and unpaid floorplan loans.

The 17-count indictment, detailed by the U.S. Attorney of the Western District of Pennsylvania via Automotive News, accuses Lakeside owner Andrew Gabler and ex-finance manager Chad Bednarski of a laundry list of dirty deeds. The indictments include counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, and wire fraud that allegedly took place at a franchised Chevy-Buick dealer and two pre-owned stores operated by Lakeside Auto Sales over the course of four years.

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

The indictment states that from in and around January 2015, to in and around January 2019, Gabler and Bednarski falsely indicated that customers made a down payment and falsified and inflated the income of customers when submitting auto loan applications to financial institutions on behalf of customers. In addition, Mr. Gabler caused extended warranties to be sold to customers buying a vehicle at Lakeside Auto Sales and Lakeside Chevrolet and deliberately failed to remit the paperwork and payment to the extended warranty company.

Further, the defendants falsely reported vehicle sales to General Motors for vehicles that had not been sold in order to obtain expiring incentive rebates. Finally, the defendants deliberately did not inform S&T Bank when Lakeside Auto Sales and Lakeside Chevrolet sold a vehicle that the dealerships had purchased utilizing S&T Bank’s floor plan financing in order to delay and attempt to avoid the dealerships’ required payment to S&T Bank for the sold vehicles which had been purchased using S&T Bank’s floor plan financing.

The indictments came following an investigation by the FBI and state police. If convicted, the sky’s the limit when it comes to sentencing for the two men. The Attorney’s Office claims “the law provides for a maximum total sentence of 510 years in prison and a fine of $17,000,000 for Andrew Gabler and 330 years in prison and a fine of $11,000,000 for Chad Bednarski.”

Of course, an actual sentence would take into account the seriousness of the crimes, as well as the defendants’ history.

[Image: General Motors]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

More by Steph Willems

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 30 comments
  • Sgeffe Sgeffe on Aug 15, 2019

    What dey did was a very bad thing! Prowler needs a jomp!

  • ToolGuy ToolGuy on Aug 16, 2019

    I wonder - could any automaker ever be successful without a traditional dealer network?

  • Lorenzo Are they calling it a K4? That's a mountain in the Himalayas! Stick with names!
  • MaintenanceCosts It's going to have to go downmarket a bit not to step on the Land Cruiser's toes.
  • Lorenzo Since EVs don't come in for oil changes, their owners don't have their tires rotated regularly, something the dealers would have done. That's the biggest reason they need to buy a new set of tires sooner, not that EVs wear out tires appreciably faster.
  • THX1136 Always liked the Mustang though I've never owned one. I remember my 13 yo self grabbing some Ford literature that Oct which included the brochure for the Mustang. Using my youthful imagination I traced the 'centerfold' photo of the car AND extending the roof line back to turn it into a small wagon version. At the time I thought it would be a cool variant to offer. What was I thinking?!
  • GregLocock That's a bodge, not a solution. Your diff now has bits of broken off metal floating around in it.
Next